Sharm El Sheikh: Travel Tips
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Most Sharm el-Sheikh tips lists lead with generic etiquette filler. The ones that actually matter here are about the advisory question, the visa rule tied to it, and the EGP arithmetic.
Travel advisory: Egypt carries an elevated regional advisory for parts of the Sinai Peninsula, but Sharm el-Sheikh itself is a well-established exception. The UK FCDO advises against all travel to North Sinai and against all but essential travel to the South Sinai interior beyond the St Catherine-Nuweiba-El Tor road, but explicitly excepts the Red Sea resort strip, rating it “generally low risk” (updated 4 August 2026); Canada’s travel.gc.ca advisory (updated 1 September 2026) draws the same line. Check your own government’s current advisory before booking, particularly before a St Catherine’s Monastery day trip, and favor flying in over any overland route through the interior.
The tips at a glance
| Topic | What to actually do |
|---|---|
| Advisory | Sharm/Dahab/Nuweiba/Taba are a carve-out; St Catherine crosses the advisory-sensitive interior |
| Visa | Free 15-day permit covers the resort strip only; St Catherine needs a full e-visa |
| Currency | EGP, heavily devalued; cash for the market, cards fine in resorts |
| Bargaining | Expected at the Old Market; start well under the first quoted price |
| Dress | Modest off-resort and at the monastery; swimwear fine on-resort |
| Heat | Summer highs above 37C; hydrate more than feels necessary |
| Solo female travelers | Extra caution advised, especially with hotel/excursion staff |
Sharm is a carve-out, but know where the line is
The advisory box above is the single most important thing on this page: Sharm itself is treated as normal, low-risk tourism by the UK and Canadian governments alike, and the restriction is specifically about North Sinai and the South Sinai interior, not the resort strip you’re actually staying in. The practical trigger is distance from the coast, not vague danger, so the only common excursion that genuinely crosses into advisory-sensitive territory is the St Catherine’s Monastery/Mount Sinai trip.
The visa rule almost nobody reads carefully
If you fly into Sharm and stay under 15 days within the Sharm/Dahab/Nuweiba/Taba resort strip, you get a free entry-permission stamp on arrival, no visa needed. Leave that strip, for St Catherine, Cairo, the Nile or Luxor, or stay longer than 15 days, and you need a full Egyptian e-visa instead, commonly quoted around $25-30 though service-inflated agency quotes run higher (verify the current government rate). Ras Mohammed and the Straits of Tiran, reached by boat from Sharm’s marinas, are commonly treated by operators as within the free-permit zone; St Catherine is explicitly inland and isn’t. Check current Egypt entry requirements before you book anything that leaves the coast.
The currency arithmetic, and why cash still matters
The Egyptian pound has devalued sharply in recent years, reportedly past E£40 to the dollar by 2025 from a roughly E£16 peg targeted 2018-21 (verify the current rate before you travel). USD and EUR cash, plus cards, work fine at resort hotels and larger stores, but carry EGP cash for the Old Market, taxis and small vendors, since card acceptance thins out fast once you’re away from hotel front desks.
Bargain at the Old Market, tip where it’s expected
Bargaining is expected and normal at the Old Market, start well under the first quoted price and work up, it’s a social interaction here, not an imposition. A 10-15% service charge is often already added to restaurant bills; baksheesh beyond that, small tips for porters and guides, is a normal expectation on top.
Dress for the monastery and the mosque, not just the beach
Swimwear and a relaxed dress code are fine within resort grounds, but modest dress, shoulders and knees covered, is expected off-resort, at the Old Market, mosques, and especially at St Catherine’s Monastery. Friday is the Muslim holy day and weekly day of rest, worth knowing if you’re planning around business hours outside the resorts.
The heat is a genuine practical concern, not boilerplate
Sharm’s monthly average highs run from around 22°C in January/February up to roughly 37.5°C in July/August, and this is a real hydration and sun-protection concern on a desert coastline, not filler advice. If you’re not visiting purely for diving and sun, spring and autumn are the comfortable windows; winter brings warm days but a genuinely cold sea and a notable wind locals call the “shimal,” worth a wetsuit if you’re diving then.
A caution worth stating plainly
Female travelers should exercise added caution when traveling alone, particularly at night and in taxis; UK government advisories note that most reported assaults in this region have involved hotel or excursion staff the victim had already met, not random street crime. It’s a specific, documented pattern worth knowing rather than generic caution.
Practical odds and ends
Tap water isn’t for drinking, stick to bottled water. Pork isn’t actually sold here even when a menu lists it, “pork” is typically salted beef. Watch for fake excursion sellers working the airport arrivals area and hotel lobbies with inflated “today only” deals; book through your hotel desk or a licensed agency instead.
For the fuller trip plan around these tips, see our Sharm el-Sheikh guide and day trips guide , which covers the St Catherine visa question in more depth. Check current Sharm el-Sheikh hotel rates once you’ve settled on an area from our where to stay guide .
One concrete move: read the visa section above before you book anything beyond Ras Mohammed or Tiran. It’s the single detail most likely to catch a first-timer off guard, since the rest of the resort strip runs on the free stamp and St Catherine quietly doesn’t.